Customer Spotlight Archives - Page 5 of 14 - Interfanatic Digital Marketing with Web Site Maintenance & Design

Kindness: South Bay Beer & Wine Festival – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

“Let us learn to live with kindness, to love everyone, even when they do not love us.”
– Pope Francis

As we ring in the new year with expectations that times will continue to be tough, but with hope that perhaps they’ll be better than they were in 2020, it’s a great time to talk about beer and wine. And it’s always a great time to focus on kindness.

You think we’ve had a bad year (and we have) but look at Pope Francis’ tenure. What a bunch of stuff he’s had to deal with. And as politicians plot us against each other, force us to focus on differences rather than bringing us together, there is no better time for some spiritual guidance from a moral figure.

Yes, we sometimes have to be told things we don’t want to hear. Of course, we take in what we want to hear – it’s human nature. But we have to listen to things we don’t want to hear, too. To get from here to there, we need the whole truth, not just the portion we like.

And Pope Francis, Jesus’ representative on Earth, says we should focus on kindness and love toward all people, including those who don’t love us.

I’m not going to get into a deeply religious dissertation. But if you don’t want to hear that, you may need to examine your spiritual outlook.

Kindness: An Interfanatic Quality

We work so hard for our customers, we work so hard to show them kindness even when they don’t reciprocate.

We all have differences of opinion. Often, differences can be traced to poor communication. We work very hard to ensure excellent communication, but when that effort is not put back, relationships can break down. As I reflect on the years of clients, most of my memories are fond ones. But there have been a few that are not so fond.

The Pope reminds me to extend my kindness even to those who create unhappy instances. It’s difficult, but it’s crucial for us to do that not just in business but in all areas of life. We need understanding.

South Bay Beer & Wine Festival, brought about by Kindness

It’s hard not to think of Karen Greenberg when I recall kindnesses. Talk about a person who has had a rough year. 2020 may well have been remembered as the Year of the Karen had it not been for COVID-19. And there are few people in this world who are less of a Karen than Karen Greenberg.

Through one of her many charitable activities, Karen Green berg works on the South Bay Beer & Wine Festival. A charitable event of revelry and fun, but of course, not in 2020.

“…there are few people in this world who are less of a Karen than Karen Greenberg.”

Nonetheless, I think of Karen and how she brought us in to this project when it needed digital expertise and marketing help. I think of Karen when I think of kindness because that’s through and through what she is.

Interfanatic Service Focus: Interfanatic Power AI-Powered Social Marketing with Setup

Social media requires kindness. It requires reciprocation of kindness. When a person follows your account or likes your content, it is a knock on the door to reciprocate that kindness and build something together. Start small, but work to get larger.

Most people do not understand the work that goes into professional social media. Not only is it planning and massive labor, it is strategy and effort and creativity. Most people think of teenage girls clicking heart emojis, and they think, “that’s not hard”. But executing a complete social media strategy in concert with a larger digital marketing campaign takes dedication and work. And once the posts are done, you’re only just beginning. You must not only curate your feed, you must curate your interactions. You must reciprocate the kindness done to you, not hoard it like a digital miser.

Our AI-Powered Social Media service is an inexpensive way to produce quality content so you can spend more time reciprocating kindness and nurturing your followership. It reduces some of your work, so you can focus on the rest – hopefully, the fun part.

Interfanatic: Working on Kindness

I enjoy nurturing new relationships. Whether it’s through Social Media or through some other venue, a new relationship can be fun. And often, opening these doors begins with kindness, even with people with whom we do not completely agree.

This week’s image:
Interfanatic‘s founder, Ryan Delane, takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

Kindness, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

If you’re scratching your head, I don’t blame you. Sometimes my pictures fit the week’s Interfanatic Quality on the head, sometimes you have to think about it. In thinking of kindness, I was drawn to this beautiful chandelier from the Getty Villa because it reminds me how some bright lights of kindness are reflected and spread upon the many around. As a chandelier, kindness can be covered or it can be amplified. I wish to be more like this chandelier with the kindnesses done unto me.

Kindness: South Bay Beer & Wine Festival – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight Read More »

Loyalty: Carroll Smith Consulting, Inc. – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight, Partners

“Loyalty means giving me your honest opinion, whether you think I’ll like you’re not.”
– General Colin Powell

My apologies for the late post. I got tied up with the holidays. This post was intended for publishing 12/24.

Loyalty – the right kind of loyalty – earned, not given or bribed, is a beautiful thing. Some say it’s the most important thing.

As I reflect upon 21 years of Interfanatic, it’s hard to discount that latter thought. Twenty-one years ago, Carroll Smith came to me and said, “can you build me a website.” Then, seventeen years ago Carroll passed away, and my business shifted to his son, Chris. Chris wanted to change the terms a bit, and we did, but it works better for him now. We did what was required to ensure loyalty, because we’re loyal to our customer.

We give it to each other honestly, whether we think the other will like the opinion or not.

Loyalty: An Interfanatic Quality

Efficiency is ingrained. Of course, we have to constantly fight for it. Our business is on an entropic trend with efficiencies fighting inefficiencies on every front. Efficiency doesn’t have to be impersonal, but it does have to work.

We’re constantly on the lookout for ways to make things happen faster, simpler. Any time there’s a complicated process, we seek to simplify it. Our business is rife with new tasks, new processes, and these are not always beautifully efficient.

Over time, we hone new processes to make them simpler and more efficient. It helps us save time and money. And then we can pass that efficiency to our customers through savings.

CarrollSmith.com, the Result of Two-way Loyalty

As we enter 2021, I’m filled with pride and humility (at the same time – weird, I know) – that we’re still running CarrollSmith.com some twenty-two years later.

This is not an accident. It works this way because we both want it to be this way and because our arrangement works for both parties. The arrangement works both ways because we make sure it does. We make sure it does because we’re both loyal.

“We work together to ensure all goes well and all are happy, and we do it for loyalty.”

Chris honors his father’s work. We at Interfanatic honor his father’s work. We work together to ensure all goes well and all are happy, and we do it for loyalty.

Interfanatic Service Focus: Interfanatic Basic Weekly Email Marketing with Setup⁠

Nothing has the potential to inspire loyalty gently like email marketing done right. Nothing has the potential to piss customers off slowly, violently, like spam – email marketing done wrong.

Email marketing done right, email marketing done the Interfanatic way, is like most things worth doing – it’s hard work. You have to constantly strive to find and deliver value to your customers. Not through sales or promotions or making them spend money, but through informing them, helping them, teaching them what they want to know, but they didn’t know to ask you.

Keep it interesting, and you keep customers coming back. Let it be boring, or even worse, all about you, and watch those customers you earned run away.

Interfanatic: Inspiring Loyalty

I’m pleased with our relationship with Carroll Smith Consulting. And I know that any day, if I don’t keep working at it, if I don’t stay loyal, it could go away. As it could with our other clients who have been with us for decades. There’s always somebody trying to do better. That’s why we keep after it for our clients – to keep them improving, to keep them thinking, to help them. To make them wish to stay loyal.

This week’s image:
Interfanatic‘s founder, Ryan Delane, takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

Loyalty, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

Ah, the vivacious blood-red heart. An eternal symbol of loyalty. Fill it with chocolate and you’ve got something that would keep me loyal. And what do you do when you need a great gift? Get them what you would want, of course. And so this was a gift for my wife, who has spent years putting up with me. I don’t know if it exactly inspired loyalty, but she didn’t leave me yet, so this was not the wrong answer apparently!

Loyalty: Carroll Smith Consulting, Inc. – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight Read More »

Efficiency: PCGS – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight, Partners

“Efficiency signifies the productivity of the process.”
– Susan Page

Efficiency sounds so clinical. It’s interesting to hear about it from a newspaper woman. Efficiency is not something that comes to mind when you think of journalism, but of course it’s critical. Excellent writing is all about being concise. It’s about getting the story across completely using the fewest words possible.

But she’s referring to the productivity of the process. At Interfanatic, we have a lot of processes. We have systems galore. We don’t really think about it in these terms any longer because they’re such an intrinsic part of our work. But we’re always trying to find ways to be more efficient for the long run – because it’s better for our customers.

This brings to mind one of our clients from just a couple of years ago: Collectors Universe and PCGS. Now THAT is an efficient company!

Efficiency: An Interfanatic Quality

Over time, we hone new processes to make them simpler and more efficient. It helps us save time and money. And then we can pass that efficiency to our customers through savings.

PCGS is Efficiency in Action

The Professional Coin Grading Service is an incredibly efficient outfit. They deal with tens of thousands of collectibles daily, and they get those tens of thousands of items in front of dozens of extreme experts to get their honest opinion of condition and / or value.

“[PCGS is] an incredible outfit performing a massive service to an industry that intrinsically requires their talents.”

On top of that, they’re dealing with some of the most valuable and rare collectibles in the universe. The collectibles market is much like the stock market, in that it fluctuates daily based on supply and demand. They are the third party that helps buyers and sellers know what is in front of them.

A few years ago, we handled a couple the marketing initiatives for PCGS. Well, we Interfanatic, did not – I did. We handled some of their social media, many of their email sends, and a video marketing program related to a big rollout of collectibles for a big customer. It was awesome!

But in doing so, I got to see how clinically efficient PCGS is. They’re not that way just because they want to be – they’re that way because they have to be. When you’re dealing with collectibles on this scale, you have to treat them agnostically, and you have to treat them quickly – efficiently. It’s an incredible outfit performing a massive service to an industry that intrinsically requires their talents.

So when we had the opportunity to handle some of their marketing, these were some incredibly fun and rewarding projects for us.

Interfanatic Service Focus: Interfanatic Power Search Advertising with Setup

Search advertising is the ultimate in efficiency. While the newcomer to the scene – social media – is not always efficient for newcomers, search advertising is the king of making your dollar go far. It’s a great way to establish your brand, and a great way to get your established brand in front of the right customers.

If you want to spend your money efficiently, get a digital search campaign going the right way. It will take some time to get it tuned in, so start by spending slowly. As you see the results you want and begin to understand why you’re seeing them, up your spend to get more of what you want.

It’s a beautiful process, and we’ve been proud to be a part of it for some great customers during these difficult times.

Interfanatic: Honing Efficiency

Like PCGS, we have systems and processes in place to help you become more successful while spending less. We’re here to help. It is my pleasure to help you get more business for less.

This week’s image:
Interfanatic‘s founder, Ryan Delane, takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

Efficiency, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

While reviewing photographs to use for our social feed, I was struck by this image of a red rose. There is little that is so efficient in eliciting a reaction as a gorgeous rose. It is beautiful and immediate. The more you look at it, you have an emotional reaction to its visual and olfactory presence. It is a king (or queen, as the case may be!) of efficiency.

Efficiency: PCGS – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight Read More »

Beauty: Fast Cars, Inc. – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight, Partners

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt

We all need something to believe in. Especially when today is not perfect, we need something to work for, something to cling to, hope for a better day.

Eleanor Roosevelt witnessed highs and lows through the eyes of the President. She helped her husband see a way for the country through the Great Depression. She believed in the beauty of their dream.

And then, 79 years ago this week, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Yet again, she and her husband found beauty in their dream of a way through. And the US emerged stronger than ever.

Every day, we face challenges – some small, like a hiccup in a computer system, and some large – like a loved one dying. We have to dream consistently to have something to work toward. We have to dream to see ourselves through.

One thing some people dream of is a beautiful automobile. It can be a symbol of status, of power, and of a certain uniqueness. Steve Tillack’s business, Fast Cars Inc., gives people a way to achieve that dream. It connects people who can with automobiles that can.

Beauty: An Interfanatic Quality

In everything we do, we seek beauty. Whether it’s a beautiful solution, or a beautiful compromise, or a beautiful design, that is what we dream daily to achieve.

Not just for us at Interfanatic, but for our customers. We seek to create beautiful solutions to their problems – to help them achieve their dreams.

Fast Cars, Inc. – Beauty Supply

Not every car is beautiful. But some are gorgeous kinetic works of art that, in the right hands, can be harnessed to create a kinetic sculpture of breathtaking speed. That’s what Steve Tillack does.

“A 100-point Pebble Beach Concourse 250 Ferrari is a satisfying sight, sound, and beauty to behold.”

Tillack’s company produces Pebble Beach winners. They restore Ferraris and other cars of great rarity and pedigree to pristine, better-than-factory condition. Many people deal in art, but fewer deal in the masters. A 100-point Pebble Beach Concourse 250 Ferrari is a satisfying sight, sound, and beauty to behold. And a great rarity. That’s what Steve deals in.

When Steve came to us to help him with his The Racers Shop branch of their business, it was our pleasure to assist. But we also helped them capture the beauty of their creations to add to their website for sale. As a professional photographer, I tutored their staff on how to photograph their cars to present them best for prospective owners.

I really enjoyed working with Steve’s team. He’s got an excellent shop and crew. And they’re a Redondo Beach institution.

Interfanatic Service Focus: Interfanatic Web Site Design & Production

The ultimate digital beauty is a website that is attractive and works. Perhaps, one might say, one that attracts money for its owner.

This is what we do. We give our customers what they want, but we guide them with our experience to help them use their website to make more money.

That’s why you have a website. To disseminate information, yes, but primarily to bring in repeat customers.

Interfanatic: Celebrating Beauty

Just like the cars of Fast Cars Inc., a great website is about beauty and performance. Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder… What beautiful dreams can we work with you on, to help you find a better future?

This week’s image:
Interfanatic‘s founder, Ryan Delane, takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

Beauty, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

There is little more beautiful than the simplicity of a beautiful day. While out and about one day, walking with my wife, I captured this beautiful afternoon at the Redondo Beach Pier. The sky was mesmerizing.

Beauty: Fast Cars, Inc. – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight Read More »

Courage: Palos Verdes Peninsula Chamber of Commerce – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight, Partners

“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”
– Muhammad Ali

Risk-taking – not for the wary. Putting yourself out there, doing something new, taking the road less taken – all signs of courage. All signs of a person starting their own new business.

There’s an audacity about doing things your way and making it work. Especially when you have others depending on you to make it work.

In a way, this quote is a little shallow because it comes from somebody for whom this advice worked well. There are millions of others who have taken this advice and for whom it did not go well. We don’t hear from them, though…

For months, we’ve been told to limit our contact with others. Some took it seriously. Others did not. Some chose to take risks with their own lives, but more importantly, with the lives of others. It comes back to which information sources we choose to trust, I suppose. Many people distrusted the advice of people they didn’t want to hear, or people they didn’t want to hear from. The result is, while things were under control for a bit, everything those people have been telling us is true. This isn’t political, we were in a tenuous state, and now things are substantially worse because of the risk takers.

So: take risks. But be prudent. And mind your information sources. Maybe the ones telling you what you want to hear aren’t the most trustworthy.

Courage: An Interfanatic Quality

We take risks every day. Design is risk. To tell the story in a new way, you have to be audacious – you have to find a way to make your customer stand out while not taking too much risk. Their reputation depends on it.

But we are prudent about the risks we take. We don’t take risks because we want to, or just for the sake of taking risks. We do it when it’s required and when the payoff is worth the effort.

Palos Verdes Peninsula Chamber of Commerce – Supporting the Courageous

Every small business who deals with the Palos Verdes Peninsula Chamber of Commerce understands risks and the rewards that may come. Some have reaped those rewards, but many are just making the attempt.

“The PVP Chamber works hard to be a resource and to help small businesses survive and thrive.”

Every small business I meet in or around Palos Verdes, I recommend they join the PVP Chamber. I know the work the PVP Chamber staff puts forth for its membership. When things are good or like now, when things are tough, they work hard to be a resource and to help those small businesses survive and thrive.

So they know risk – and they know courage. They encourage courage, and try to help their small businesses put their best foot forward.

It was great fun to work with the Chamber on their Social Media efforts. We helped them get the word out about the PV Street Fair using their social media accounts as a tool. We then strategized and implemented a successful ongoing social media campaign, celebrating their member businesses, until they had the resources to to take over the project themselves.

The Palos Verdes Peninsula Chamber of Commerce is great to work with. They’re fantastic to have on your side.

Interfanatic Service Focus: Interfanatic Power Social Media Advertising

Social Media can be brilliantly effective when the stars align, but getting that post to go viral, while the dream, is a bit like hitting the lottery. It can happen, but…

So if you need your posts in front of more eyes, the answer is Social Media Advertising. It doesn’t necessarily guarantee engagement, but it does guarantee reach. And when handled properly, that reach is effective, and it helps your engagement. When not handled properly, it’s a waste of money.

We really enjoy helping our customers dial in their social media. We can use our experience to help you!

Interfanatic: Encouraging Courage

We like to think we’re like the Palos Verdes Peninsula Chamber in that we help small businesses put their best foot forward. In that way, we’re really complimentary businesses. We’re trying to help the audacious make their mark while minimizing the big risks they have to take to make it happen.

This week’s image:
Interfanatic‘s founder, Ryan Delane, takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

Courage, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

Courage is forged in the fire of risk. If a small business emerges, they may be burnt and hammered, but they are more likely to last the further tests that come at them.

Courage: Palos Verdes Peninsula Chamber of Commerce – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight Read More »

Honor: West Coast Jewelers – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight, Partners

“If you honor and serve the people who work for you, they will honor and serve you.”
– Mary Kay Ash

Another week, another week closer to honorable leadership?

This quote speaks to me because I was raised around this philosophy. I grew up in a family business with thousands of incredibly appreciated workers.

All business must be honorable if it is to survive, thrive, and do well for the community around it.

This week, we’re helping a new business launch. And I guarantee you that in their line of work, they would go nowhere fast were they not honorable.

Honor: An Interfanatic Quality

When you work with honor, people know they can depend on you. Trust comes from doing deals with honor.

There’s no reason to go into business if you refuse to hold your honor and that of your customers in esteem.

Hopefully, that’s why we’re here after over 20 years. We always treat our customers with honor. I know our customers appreciate the work we do.

West Coast Jewelers – Bringing Business with Honor

The cash for gold business is not one known for honor. But Firas Sayegh and his family business are determined to raise the bar on their competition.

“West Coast Jewelers pay for gold like coin dealers pay: the most.”

It’s a difficult thing to open any business. But the thing about West Coast Jewelers is that they have a very clear unique selling proposition. They do custom jewelry for beauty, and also for investment.

Everyone knows that taking scrap gold to a cash for gold place is the best way to lose money. They pay the least – sometimes a criminally small amount – for gold. Jewelers pay the next most, and coin shops pay the most. As West Coast Jewelers works with bullion dealers, they’re almost like a coin dealer who does jewelry. They pay for gold like coin dealers pay.

But the most important thing Firas brings to his business is his honor. And he knows this. You don’t get far in the gold and jewelry business cheating people. Not ever, but especially in the age of social media. Firas Sayegh and West Coast Jewelers are transparent and embrace social media, like so many young entrepreneurs. The people of West Coast Jewelers deal in honor.

Interfanatic Service Focus: Interfanatic Power Landing Page Creation & Optimization

When you set up your new digital advertising campaign, it’s always most efficient to pair your ad campaign with a landing page to match.

We set up landing pages. And then we watch the data and learn from it. We improve. We keep tweaking until we get the most out of the campaign and landing page, making them work together beautifully.

Get more from your digital ad spend. Get us to set up and optimize a landing page that converts.

Interfanatic: Dealing in Honor

We’re here by the grace of God to help you by doing what we do best. And we do it for you honestly, with honor.

This week’s image:
Interfanatic‘s founder, Ryan Delane, takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

Honor, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

I remember watching Steven Tyler talk about the way he wanted to honor his fans. It’s not the same thing as honoring your workers, but it seems like the right message. You have to truly honor your fans with truth, hard work to create excellent results. We got to go see Aerosmith in concert last year in Vegas, and man what a show. It was a wonderful experience, and I felt honored to be there, and honored by the Aerosmith troupe.

Honor: West Coast Jewelers – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight Read More »

Justice: Masters Historic Racing – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight, Partners

“Justice is always violent to the party offending, for every man is innocent in his own eyes.”
– Daniel Defoe

Another week, another week closer to the justice of democracy?

As many readers know, I often make significant effort to use this space highlight the words of people we have not heard enough. The wise words of women and people of color. There are billions of quotes from motivational speakers and old dead white dudes. And those quotes have plenty of wisdom. But I’m always looking to bring a fresh perspective – perhaps one that’s not heard enough.

But this week, as I try to understand these people I respect, I went back to an old dead white dude. I know that many people I disagree with, people whom I respect, will more easily listen to a white guy. And that’s why I lend my voice here – I have absolutely privilege and it’s my task to use it for myself – and for people that do not.

Justice is always violent for the part offending. Every man is innocent in his own eyes. That’s why justice is so important! Every man innocent in their own eyes must be shown the light.

There are standards. Standards in running a country, standards in running a business. Justice is imperative, as is the administration of justice.

It takes a certain amount of audacity and never-quit to start and successfully run a business. This is my common ground with you. You have information sources you trust, and I have information sources I trust. There is overlap, but that overlap is not complete.

We often believe what we want to hear. That’s just human nature.

This week, as every week for five years, we’re faced with information sources that continue to diverge in their messaging.

But in the end, we must have a bedrock that we trust for justice to be served, or nothing is trustworthy.

(I hear the conspiracy theorists giggle in glee: “you thought anything was trustworthy?!?!?”)

Yes, I believe the Earth is roughly a sphere. Do we agree on that?

Finding that common ground for justice, living up to it and administering it is the foundation for any organization that enforces rules. I think of the Masters Racing Series, based in the UK, as a foundation for justice in historic motorsports.

Justice: An Interfanatic Quality

We have to have a common ground from which to work. That’s how any transaction works – business or simple fairness.

Otherwise, how do we measure justice against injustice?

We work hard to ensure our customers get what they pay for – oftentimes more. But in the end, when we do work, we have to be compensated justly. We want our customers to be happy, so we work for that. And our customers appreciate us to keep coming back.

Masters Historic Racing – Administrators of Justice

Some years ago, Masters Historic Racing requested help with their digital footprint. Knowing Ron Maydon as I do, I jumped at the chance! He’s a great businessman. A successful one that knows justice and value. And we have a common love for historic cars.

“Years on, and Masters Racing Series is a continued success. Because [Maydon] knew how to handle justice, and he brings that to his business.”

He was building the Masters Racing Series, a “casual,” gentleman’s sporting competition series. As with all competition, its administrators must clearly lay out justice.

As a successful entrepreneur, he understood that business justice – fairness – comes from treating your customers right, and their response in kind.

Years on, and his experiment is a continued success. Because he knew how to handle justice, and he brings that to his business at Masters Racing Series.

Interfanatic Service Focus: Interfanatic Year-Round SEO Monitoring

Many of our customers love our Interfanatic Power SEO Situation Report. It gives them a phenomenal snapshot of their search performance for important keywords.

If that sounded like gibberish, my apologies! When we prepare a Situation Report, we sit down with a business owner, find out what’s important to their business, and then use our professional expertise to determine how well their website is working. When we prepare an SEO Situation Report, we help a business owner find out how easy it is for customers to find their website.

Our year-round monitoring takes this to the next step. We check in monthly to see how results change based on the work we do. It’s a great way to measure ROI. That’s what we’re here for – to make sure you’re making more money as a result of the work we do for you.

Want to know if the money you’re spending with us is working? Want to be sure we’re doing our part to bring your dollars justice? We’ll help you find out, honestly and transparently.

Interfanatic: Ensuring Justice

We wouldn’t be here after over 20 years if our customers didn’t feel we were doing them right. Of course, there are always ways we can improve. We’re set on finding them and implementing them, so we constantly do a better job for you.

This week’s image:
Interfanatic‘s founder, Ryan Delane, takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

Justice, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

Justice is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I remember looking out upon a gray day, and as the sun broke through the clouds outside my window, a beautiful array of color spread before mine eyes, reminding me that there was still more beauty in the world.

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Humor: Fairmont Butte Motorsports Park – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight, Partners

“When humor goes, there goes civilization.”
– Erma Bombeck

A week later, and things are much as expected. That’s why it’s a great time to have a sense of humor.

I have to keep going back to these people I deeply respect, despite their decision to continue to throw our country into chaos.

After talking with a few this week, it seems it’s not serious. “Yeah, he’s terrible, I’m not sad he lost.” Others echo: “Yeah, let’s just make sure the votes get counted fairly.”

I think everyone can get behind that. Of course everyone wants the legal votes counted and the illegal ones discarded. Even if it doesn’t go their way, that’s what everyone wants.

So, back to the sense of humor: Erma Bombeck. She’s a funny lady! And if we can’t have a laugh with each other, at each other, what’s the point?

That’s certainly how Tom Malloy handled his business after a ridiculous ten-year battle that netted him a ton of money. Because he was able to approach the problem with a sense of humor, in the end it worked out for him.

And that’s what we all have to try to do – it’s only temporary, we just need to laugh once in a while.

Humor: An Interfanatic Quality

Can we have a laugh together? If we can, we’re on the right track. If we cannot, it’s gonna be a long slog.

When I can – without breaking the professional barrier – I try to bring humor into things. It can make the project go so much better!

As was the case with Fairmont Butte Motorsports Park. The assertion was that race cars, from miles away, would kill poppies. Sure.

You have to laugh, right? So that’s what we do.

Fairmont Butte Motorsports Park – In the End, A Good Giggle

Tom laid plans for a beautiful facility. In the end, environmentalists created so much red tape, and so many problems, the project was abandoned. For a massive profit. That’s what’s funny.

And please don’t take this the wrong way – our environment, our Earth, is in trouble. And that’s no laughing matter. Tom works hard in his other businesses to protect Mother Earth. But race cars kill poppies? That’s just funny. Sure, if they drive over them. But if they’re miles away, the sound of a race car will not kill any poppy.

We created a beautiful website for the project. We were there, to watch the project progress. I remember even going to a couple of county hearings about the project. And we watched it all fade away.

Tom is a great proponent for motorsports and motorsports history, as his family is deeply rooted in the Los Angeles motor racing story. He was excited to carry on that tradition. And he did and does, but not through FBMP.

Interfanatic Service Focus: Interfanatic Web Site Maintenance

Getting hacked is not fun. It’s not funny. We’ve been there before, and I’m sure we’ll be there again. No matter what you do, if the hacker wants in badly enough – it’s like any other kind of criminal – they’ll find a way in.

But we reduce the hacking and the issues that come from it with decades of experience and best-practices.

That way, with us on your team managing your website, there will be more laughs to have, and fewer frustrations. It is our pleasure to help! Use our experience.

Interfanatic: Keeping Humor

Why don’t you and I have a laugh? We can talk business, too. And that can be very serious. But let’s not remember to keep things enjoyable with a good joke or two.

This week’s image:
Interfanatic‘s founder, Ryan Delane, takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

Humor, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

I was driving home the other day after a very long day with a client. And I saw this – what seemed to me to be a light at the end of the tunnel. That’s what humor is – it can light the way during even the most stressful of times. And, I’m reminded of just what a pretty place I live in.

Humor: Fairmont Butte Motorsports Park – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight Read More »

Goodness: Smoll – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight, Partners

“The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness.”
– His Holiness, Dalai Lama XIV

As we sit, America is in tumult, reaping exactly what she sowed. It’s a lot to take in.

So let’s take a moment to appreciate goodness. There is innate goodness in all people. Some people choose to celebrate that, while some people choose to focus on our differences.

The Dalai Lama, despite his life’s journey, chooses to give us a positive nugget in this week’s quote. The roots of goodness come in the appreciation of goodness. Apparently, the corollary is also true; when goodness is lost, we have to deal with the roots of discontent, which lie in appreciation of discontent.

Right now, we have more people interested in us hearing that we can’t tell them what to do than we have people interested in speaking for the greater good. When you assert your liberty over someone else’s, the result is oppression of the other. That’s not real liberty.

Appreciating the good of others begins the growth of all goodness. And that’s what Smoll does.

Smoll appreciates the goodness of great small businesses around our country. It celebrates that goodness. It makes itself a root for goodness and appreciation for good small business.

Goodness: An Interfanatic Quality

At the end of the day, I choose to take or reject a client based on their goodness. I have a tough client right now. Extremely difficult to communicate with. But I knew that going in, and I decided to take on the project because I believe him to be a good person. I appreciate the goodness and in this case I’ll work with that despite otherwise intense difficulties.

That’s not the case with Smoll – they’re great to work with! And I think much of that comes from the innate goodness they work toward.

But, we know what it’s like to work with difficult clients and we know what it’s like to work with great ones. We always prioritize being great to work with because that’s how good things happen.

Smoll, Celebrating the Good of Local, Small Businesses

Where do you go when you need something? You go where you know. You go where you trust. Often, what you know, what you trust is a big chain. It’s the McDonald’s model. When I’m in Shanghai, I know with certainty that a McDonald’s is not the best hamburger I can get. Shanghai is filled with excellent restaurants, with even some that have hamburgers, and surely a couple that make great hamburgers. But if I don’t feel like seeking out that restaurant, when I want a burger quick and I see McDonald’s on the corner, that’s where I go. (Not me literally; I’m the type to seek out the burger if that’s what I want. But…) You know what to expect. Probably a reasonably inexpensive Big Mac and you have a pretty good idea of what it will taste like.

Then, there’s Yelp. Yelp is extortion. Often, I see small business beholden to Yelp for their shady business practices. When people go to Yelp, it’s to air grievances much more often than it is to share praise. And being beholden to Yelp is expensive. Unless you have an excellent system and process in place to ensure a good working relationship with your customers, you’re likely to get bad reviews that soil the good ones.

So that’s why there’s Smoll. It’s designed around celebrating and helping to promote the great small businesses in your community. It features special businesses from every community around the United States so that you can find businesses you’ll want to work with that you may not know about. Maybe they don’t do Yelp and maybe you haven’t heard of them. But there’s a great, hardworking team at that local small business you would really enjoy working with.

And that’s why we work with Smoll. That’s exactly what we want and what we want to do: celebrate the goodness in our local communities and small businesses.

Interfanatic: Finding and Celebrating Goodness

Let’s take a moment to find the goodness in each other – the common ground we can agree upon. We should not focus on our differences. Let’s appreciate the goodness in each of our perspectives.

This week’s image:
Interfanatic‘s founder, Ryan Delane, takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

Goodness, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed. — Goodness, an Interfanatic Quality. *Interfanatic* Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

The purity of sunflowers – that’s some righteous goodness. My wifey bought these for our table and I couldn’t help but revel in their beauty and splash of color. It’s nice to have beautiful things around to remind you of goodness.

Goodness: Smoll – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight Read More »

Tranquility: The Penny Lady® – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight, Partners

“From tranquility emerges power and strength.”
– C. Joybell C.

Unfortunately, things are not as severe as they’ll get. Remembering family, we’re in for tumultuous times, not tranquil ones.

If we could relax, perhaps we could improve things. But we can’t. Everything continues to get worse. And it will keep going that way, it seems. There is no tranquility when things continue to get worse because there cannot be. We must push forward to improve.

It would be a lovely thing to return to some semblance of tranquility. But that won’t happen. The same people who were insistent upon throwing us into chaos four years ago appear to have done it again. Last time, only 100,000 people died before their time (and growing.) What will it be this time?

We now know the cost of 100,000 lives. It is a tax cut for the ultra-wealthy. It is further dependence on foreign governments as we continue to go further and further into debt. Apparently, 100,000 American lives aren’t worth that much. Apparently, a strong and independent America isn’t worth that much, so long as the wealthy continue to get wealthier.

So when we seek respite in tranquility, it’s not going to be there. We continue to be weakened.

Our adversaries are winning. So much winning.

But when I think of tranquility, I think of the cool calm of Charmy Harker, The Penny Lady®.

Tranquility: An Interfanatic Quality

At a given coin show, it can be very irritating to be coin dealer. I’ve been on both sides of the table, and I know how wonderful customers can be – and what a pain in the neck. And I’ve been both! I’ve been both a great customer and a pain in the neck. So I know what I’m talking about.

Charmy is great. She will happily discuss coins with you, but she doesn’t suffer fools. She has a very clinical manner with people she feels is wasting her time, but she’s also a terribly warm person when you get to know her and do business with her regularly.

At the end of the day, her tranquil manner is what is required to maintain sanity and decorum. Some find her fantastic, but I’ve heard that some find her cold. She’s not cold. Charmy is awesome. She’s a coin show veteran. She knows her stuff. And she works with all kinds of great customers – big spenders and small fish alike. She just loves coins and loves sharing her love of coins.

And she’s a great client. 2020 has been okay for some and horrific for others. Through it all, she keeps an even keel and things rolling, sensibly. In a tranquil way.

You know what a great time is, to a coin collector? Checking out Charmy’s site. Her coins are beautiful. It’s relaxing to review the collectible coins on her website and just enjoy them. You can look at her collection (not for sale) or see the beautiful coins she has on offer. For a coin collector, it’s all a good, peaceful time.

For me, it’s fun to look at both. I’m not actively collecting anything right now, but I very much enjoy viewing her coins, and do so regularly.

The Penny Lady®, A Tranquil Repose for Collectors Online

When collectors go to ThePennyLady.com, they’re looking for collectible small cents. Charmy specializes in Indian Cents, but she always has plenty of Flying Eagle Cents and Lincoln Cents (some call them “wheat pennies”) for your enjoyment.

If you don’t know anything about collecting coins, there are a couple of things you need to understand:

#1) Condition is everything.

You can have a Lincoln wheat cent in your pocket that to the untrained eye looks like one of Charmy’s very expensive examples. Maybe the year is not the same or the mint mark is different, or maybe it even looks exactly the same to you. The chances of you having a $500 coin in your pocket are lottery-chances slim. Of course it’s possible, but your penny has to be spectacular or spectacularly rare (odds are worse for you than one in a billion) for it to be worth money. And what looks perfect to you may not at all be perfect to an expert who eats, drinks, and breathes coins.

#2) Certification helps.

All of Charmy’s coins have been expertly certified to be what she says they are. Not only does she know what she’s looking at, she’s had an expert panel review the coins and independently come up with a condition description. This expert panel belongs to what we call a Third-Party Grading company. All they do – and I mean all – is sit and look at coins all day long to determine their condition. And their condition, combined with the other characteristics of the coin – the date, mint mark, and error or or other outside factors – determine the pricing. They look at literally tens of thousands of collectible coins per day.

And even then, many of the coins Charmy deals in are even more special, so they’re more valuable than the available price guides. She knows this because she’s spent years as a dealer going to coin shows. She spends her life buying and selling coins. So she knows what they’re really worth to a collector – sometimes better then the price guides say.

I haven’t geeked out on coins in too long. So let’s have a look at a few of my favorites on her site right now.

Look, there are hundreds of coins for sale on her site. So look for yourself. I picked these out from the home page to highlight because they are to my taste.

All photographs are Charmy’s. She retains copyrights, et cetera.

1942 Lincoln Wheat in 5 RB

https://thepennylady.com/coins/1942-1c-lincoln-wheat-cent-pcgs-ms65rb-toned/

This is a pretty coin. This is a relatively common coin. There are literally billions of 1942 cents worth no more than $0.01. But this one, even as “rare coins” go, is relatively common in the grade of Mint State 65 Red-Brown. There are many much nicer coins. And they’re all more expensive than this one.

What I like about this one is it doesn’t look common. It has interesting color (we call it toning). The obverse, or head’s side has iridescent pinks and oranges, and the reverse is heavily iridescent yellow-green. This is just not a coin you see every day. And it’s a cool coin, and it can be yours for under a couple hundred dollars.

1858/7 Flying Eagle in 58

1858/7 1C Flying Eagle Cent (S-1 Strong) PCGS AU58 CAC

This is a really cool coin. It’s got a really cool price, too. I used to prowl eBay for unnoticed raw 8/7s. It’s not an easy thing to do – there are lots of collectors doing the same. What’s cool about this coin is, …well, where do I start? First, it’s a Flying Eagle. The mint only made these for a couple of years (three if you count the king 1856). It’s a neat design. While this coin doesn’t ooze eye appeal, it’s still a solid coin because it has all of the diagnotistics of the 8/7 in full view. And it’s a friendly grade of Almost Uncirculated 58, meaning the graders see it as very close to mint state, uncirculated. Philadelphia Mint struck this coin weakly, which is why to some it looks worn. But it’s not. And it’s got the CAC green bean that means not only did the experts look it over and determine it was a 58, more experts reviewed the experts’ work and affirmed they were right.

1890 Indian Cent in 5 Brown

1890 1C Indian Cent NGC MS65BN Toned

I love me some purple pennies. I had one years ago that I sold and I still kick myself for it. This one is kinda like the ’42 Wheat – an 1890 Indian is a relatively common coin. Mint State 65 is a great grade – it’s the bottom of what some call “gem”. MS 65 is the lowest grade you want if you want (and can afford) a “nice” uncirc coin. Don’t get me wrong, there are “nice” 62s and “nice” 68s, but in general, 65 is a great collector grade. And this coin is PRETTY. I’d love to see it in hand, with the flashes of mint red coming through blue and purple hues.

“And if you’re in need of a new hobby during quarantine, drag out the old box o’ coins from the attic and start learning about them.”

See, this, for me, is tranquility. I can’t afford any of these coins right now, but I can afford to window shop online. For a coin geek, that’s as relaxing as listening to Clair de Lune.

And if you’re in need of a new hobby during quarantine, drag out the old box o’ coins from the attic and start learning about them. They’re a window into the past; a vessel of art and time.

It would be my pleasure to discuss coins with you any time. So long as I’m not too busy getting stressed out with work.

Feel the Tranquility with Interfanatic Power HackSecure Business Hosting with SSL

Even ol’ Trumpkin got hacked. Which just proves that if the crooks want to get in badly enough, they’ll find a way to get past the lock.

There’s really nothing anybody can do to keep a determined hacker out. But we can do the basics to keep most out. Just like your house: if you leave the door unlocked and you live in a neighborhood where such action is not advised, you’re inviting the hoodlems. But if you at least lock your door, would-be thieves are more likely to move on to the next place to see if they forgot. You’re better off locking your door.

What we do, it’s a little bit more than that. It’s not full-proof, but it’s practical and it works almost all the time. We’ve been through getting hacked. We’ve learned the hard way. So we apply those lessons learned and our customers are much, much safer than they used to be.

Interfanatic: Keeping it Tranquilo

Let’s all just chill. Don’t let the orange motormouth angrifier get under your skin. Wouldn’t it be a much nicer place if we could just ignore him because everything he says is unimportant again?

This week’s image:
Interfanatic‘s founder, Ryan Delane, takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

Tranquility, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

I did what was right. I voted. In doing so, I expressed my opinion, I flexed what little muscle I have. Was it enough? Probably not. I could have done more.

Also, I gotta mention, the ’31-D that was on Charmy’s site, the one I used for this week’s social – it’s already gone. I hope you’re the lucky new owner!

Tranquility: The Penny Lady® – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight Read More »